Drink mixer with automatic elevator



July 31, 1934. H. L. STRONGSON' 8,268

DRINK MIXER WITH-AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR ori inal Filed Nov. 10, 1930 V I v Wi atented July 31, 1934 UNITED STATES DRINK ll/[IXER WITH AUTOMATICELEVATOR Herman L. Strongson, New York, N. Y., assignor to L. Oser, NewYork, N. Y.

Application November 10, 1930, Serial No. 494,596 Renewed November 1,1933 2 Claims.

This invention relates to drink mixing machines of the dependingmotor-driven agitator type in which a cup mounted upon a suitablesupport'is brought into and out of mixing relation with the 5 agitatorby sliding the cup support upwardly and downwardly on the machine.

One object of the present invention is to provide means which willautomatically transmit the sliding movement to the cup support; anotherobject being to utilize the automatic cup support moving means to timethe duration of a mixing operation; a third object being to control themotor circuit by the movements of the cup, and the fourth object beingto provide an efficient and relatively inexpensive construction for therealization of the objects aforesaid.

The invention proceeds upon the principle of providing the cup supportwith a motor-driven elevator; this elevator being preferably constructedto move the cup support first upwardly from its normal position of rest,at which it is adapted to receive the cup, and then downwardly to saidposition of rest, during which movements the mixing operation will takeplace. The preferred form of elevator herein disclosed for the purposeof illustration, consists of a drive chain traveling over spacedpinions, one of which is motor driven, preferably by the agitator motor,through a worm gear that renders the travel of 30 the chain very slow;and a lifter through means of which the cup support is connected with alink of the chain in a manner to travel upwardly thence over the upperpinion and then downwardly.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a vertical axial section of adrink mixer constructed in accordance with the invention, the plane ofsection being that which involves the standard, the motor and the cup;

1 Figure 2 is a detail view of that portion of the standard whichcontains the elevator, in axial section in a plane at right angles tothe section plane of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing details ofthe automatic motor circuit controller.

1 represents a standard upon which is mounted the sleeve 2 of a cupsupport 3. This sleeve is connected through means of the stud 4, withthe link 5 extending through slot 1 of the standard and through link 5with elevator chain 6 which travels over a lower driving sprocket '7 andan upper driving sprocket 8 on shaft 9, which carries the worm wheel 10driven by worm 11 from the motor 12 of agitator 12 Located beneath thecup support 3 is a motor circuit controller 13 involving in itsorganization a plunger 14 normally projecting into the path of the cup,through an opening 15 in the bottom of the shelf 3 so that when the cupis initially placed on the shelf, it b will depress the plunger and whenthe cup support 2 returns to its lower limit after rising forcooperation with the agitator, the plunger will be again depressed. Theswitch mechanism of the controller 13, as shown in Figure 3, is of theg5 rotary step-by-step type so that one depression of the plunger movesthe switch to circuit closing position while the next depression willmove it to the open position. Such a switch, readily purchasable in theopen market, is here typified, for purposes of illustration, by a starwheel 16 rotated about the center 17 through means of a lever 18 whichengages the star wheel through means of its pawl 19; the star wheelbeing held to its different positions by means of the dog 20. Eachstroke of the lever 18 revolves the wheel one tooth and the dog 20serves as a contact member in the circuit. Alternate faces of the wheelare provided with insulation 21 so that the circuit is closed throughthe wheel only when the dog 20 8 is bearing upon an uncovered face andthe wheel and the dog being suitably connected with the motor 12 andwith a source E, the motor being alternately energized and de-energizedin the step-by-step rotation of the star wheel. The illustrated meansfor imparting movement to the star wheel from plunger 14 is a slottedlever 22 pivoted at 23 and held normally elevated by spring 24, but soengaged by pin 25 on plunger 14 that a depression of the plunger by thecup will im part at least a throw to the lever 18.

In the operation of the machine, with the controller 13 in the off orcircuit opening position, the cup A is placed upon the shelf 3 and movesthe plunger 14 downward a sufiicient distance to rotate the star wheel16 90 and thereby bring a conducting face of the star wheel beneath thecontact 20 instead of an insulating face. This closes a circuit throughthe motor 12 which, in addition to revolving the agitator, immediatelybegins to drive the elevator chain 6 causing the link 6 to be drawnupwardly along one side of the endless chain and carrying the cupsupport 2 with it. When the attaching point 5 of link 5 reaches theupper end of its travel, it passes over the 6 sprocket 8 and descends onthe other side. As the cup support approaches its lowermost position,the cup encounters the plunger 14 and carries it downward so that by thetime the cup supv port comes to rest, the controller 13 will haveshifted to the off or open circuit position and the machine comes torest with the parts in the positions shown in Figures 1 and 2. The rateof travel of the elevator chain 6 is relatively slow so that agitationof the contents of the cup A will be completed in the period of timebetween the submergence of the agitator in and its emergence from thecontents of the cup. During this time the agitator, while spinning at ahigh rate, travels slowly downward through the contents and then slowlyupward thus producing a superior quality of agitation and mixing,besides leaving a fraction of its spinning movement within the cup abovethe fluid level, to the end of the downward stroke, sufficient to clearthe agitator by centrifugal force.

An important advantage arising from the organization and operatingprinciple of" the present invention is that it is merely necessary toplacethev cup upon the shelf of the cup support forming part of theautomatic elevator and this single act causes to takeplace,automatically, the assembly of the cup and agitator in full workingrelation, by a gradual movement during the substantial part of whichstirring action is taking place and which is followed by gradualdisassembly from such working relation during which agitation is alsotaking place, and which is followed by the clearing of the agitator andends in the machine coming to rest with the motor shut off and'the cupin position for removal.

I claim:

1. Ina drink mixer, a depending agitator, a vertically movable cupsupport, an endless chain guides around which said chain travels incontinuous circuit and a connection between a point on said chain andthe cup support causing said cup support to partake of the upward anddown- "ward movements of said chain.

" 2. In a drink mixer, a standard, a depending motor-driven agitatormounted on said standard, vertically spaced chain guides mounted on saidstandard, an endless chain traveling on said guides, a connectionextending from a point on said chain, and a cup support sliding on saidstandard and receiving-its movement from said connection.

HERMAN L. STRONGSON.

